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Sierra is now entering her tenth month of existence on this fair planet so it’s time to recap her ninth month.

Nanny Ruth spied a few teeth from this photo.  She clearly has great eyesight!

Crawling: She is a motoring machine, crawling around as fast as her limbs can take her.

Having fun with the camera.

Standing: She is definitely holding herself up whenever she can…whether it’s on a pant leg, or on the dishwasher (why does our kid love the dishwasher so much?), or the coffee table…if she can prop herself up, she will do so!  She’s great at walking around with some help from an object to lean on.  However, when it comes to actually walking around, she is kind of lazy.  Some days she will take my hands and go for a spin, but most days she just collapses with those eyes that says “Yeah no Dad.  Walking is too tough.”  She has managed to stand on her own for a few seconds so far, but it’s definitely not a trend yet!

I’ve created a monster.  Sierra got upset the one time I DIDN’T carry her while vacuuming.  Vacuuming while carrying a 20 pound kid is not easy work!

Bathtime: Does your kid love bathtime as much as ours?  As soon as the water is running, she could be playing down the street and still hear that sound and come motoring down the hallway on all fours!  I love bathtime because she is just SO EXCITED!  I mean, she comes crawling in, then she realizes what’s going on and stands up next to the bathtub screaming “GAH GAH MA MA BLAH BLAH!!!” which loosely translates to “LET ME IN!!!”.  I take her clothes off and throw her into the water and she is in her natural habitat.  Over the past month she tends to not play with her rubber ducky as much as she likes splashing around and touching the bath walls.  Vero and I try and share bathtime together but more and more we are realizing that we just get a little more accomplished if we split that chore.  Plus, she is at an age where she doesn’t really fall into the tub anymore so it’s a lot easier to manage with just one of us.  Note: this does not mean that I’m just surfing the internet not keeping my eye on her!  Eagle Eye Palmer is on the job!

Definitely her father’s daughter!!

Laughing: OH MY GOD IS THERE A BETTER SOUND THAN A BABY LAUGHING?  Right now, she can laugh on command if you fake a sneeze.  Ah-ah-ahchoooo!”  She literally dies with laughter every time she hears that sound. I hope this lasts forever.  Everyone always wonders what their baby will constantly laugh at.  I just assumed it would be my face.  Luckily, it’s the sound of someone sneezing.

Getting ready to go outside.

Daycare: While I would love to clone my parents and somehow convince them to provide full-time daycare to my kids, I don’t think that’s happening anytime soon so the search for daycare is on.  Daycare is an enigma to me….too much demand, not enough supply, which results in a lot of places saying “Well, we won’t bother taking a kid unless they are 18 months old.”  We all know what that means….your kid probably will be able to walk and talk and poop on their own by then.  That’s the market place right now…it’s a hard gig finding daycare.  Anyhow, as it stands, Vero has been doing a crazy awesome job researching and phoning and meeting daycare providers and we think we found one for the time being.  I guess the end of May is coming sooner than we think and she will be put in the care of some stranger.  That is an incredibly hard concept to wrap my head around, however, I suppose the public school system is like that as well.

Teething!!

Teething: Teething must be the worst feeling in the world.  Imagine yourself growing some teeth right now…  You would want some toy to gnaw on to get those teeth out of those gums!  This is a common sight around our house these days.

Sierra sharing her toys with Maelle and Jonas

Tante Andréanne dropped in for a quick visit before heading to the ski hill.

Max and Sierra are pretty close to tearing up and down the driveway on their cars.

I’m assuming this will be the photo we show at their wedding.  I love how Sierra was basically offering up kisses to grab his phone.

Here’s a photo from my walk at lunchtime.  Look at all that ice!

Sierra is starting early training for the Vanier wrestling league!  Check out that eye gouge!

She is pretty steady on her cars so far but she can’t figure out how to move forward yet.

Sierra and everyone else in the world cannot wait for Spring to arrive!

My lovely wife.

My lovely wife.

Just like that, she’s 10 months old!

My parents came down for a visit as they tend to do when they are fed up with the snow up North.  Generally when they come, they plant the seed of ‘Hey, we should help renovate something in your house when we are there.”  I have to say I appreciate this because a) I appreciate their help b) it kicks me in the ass to actually get something done with the house c) it’s a little bit harder to get things done with a baby around the house!  I have these grand plans to get the rest of the renovations done before Sierra is fully mobile.  However, maybe that’s a little too ambitious!  There goes my plans for a new ceiling in the rec room again.  SPEAKING of the rec room ceiling, I thought that was the project of 2017 until my parents and Vero conspired against me and decided that the downstairs bathroom needed to be updated.  Let’s be honest here, the only thing really wrong with the bathroom downstairs was that the shower faucet sucked and that the hot and cold were reverse.  So guests were not feeling welcome.  Perhaps that was the point all along?  Mwahaha.  So the bathroom was the first renovation project of 2017.

I had ripped out the old shower to make way for a new one.  Unfortunately for us, the shower base was warped so we had to exchange it.  Kind of a pain, but at least we didn’t have to return the entire shower.  I had to borrow Rob’s truck to get that item (thanks Rob!)

The foreman inspecting our work.

Note the standard 5 ounces of wine that Dad was drinking.  We were having a good laugh at how my Fitbit app says a standard glass of wine was five ounces and we probably tripled that.

Dad teaching Sierra how to play cards.  I will finally have someone in the house that likes to play cards with me!

Intense game of cribbage.

This was not our best work.  We were putting the wainscotting up and realized around this point that there was a certain way you had to insert the groove into the other plank of wood.  So basically, we had to tear our work down and start again.  THEN we were half way done the wall again when I realized Dad wasn’t paying attention and had put the wainscotting up wrong AGAIN!  So basically we worked on this wall triple the amount of time that we should.  Clearly we are new to the job.

Pass me another piece.

This photo has me smiling in it.  It must have been taken BEFORE my dad had put a board with a nail in it on the floor in which I proceed to step onto!  Ouch!  It actually sounds way worse than it was….I pulled the board out and didn’t even see any blood on my foot.  It must have just grazed the skin.  I didn’t let Dad forget about it though.

This is a very typical photo of the entire week…Dad just overseeing the operation!

I can’t tell if Mom is smiling or not in this photo.  She had a rough morning on one of the days…in the span of 30 minutes she managed to drop a door and make a dent in it, drop her eyeglasses into a gallon of paint and then somehow get a paint roller stuck on her boob!  Dad had to help her take it off! 

Mom testing out the installation.

Mom and Vero went to the Rideau Carleton slot machines for a Saturday evening while Dad and I sat around and chatted.  I was in bed when they arrived home and Vero got me up to hear some news.  Mom showered us with $200 in twenty dollar bills.  Quite the win!

But then the real news came in the form of a cheque that she passed to Dad.  “Five thousand dollars!” we heard Dad proclaim!  What a great jackpot!  Mom and Vero said that the machine just kept ringing for 15 minutes and people all around were coming to congratulate Mom.  My favourite part about this story is when they asked if she wanted it in cash.  Thinking she would get mugged on the way out, Mom wisely asked for a cheque!

It’s always great seeing my parents come down for a visit and I’m glad we got to spend some time with them.  Until the next visit!

Hey ho!  Let’s go!

Another month has crawled by (ha!  I just caught that pun).  I feel that February has been the month of the deep winter slumber.  Every night when Sierra would go to bed, I didn’t even want to watch much TV.  I just wanted to curl up and read a book.  I am feeling that spring is in the air so I’m coming out of that funk.

But who can really be in a funk when you have Sierra crawling around the house all the time!  It is exciting times for the family and also a little stressful as the 12 month mark approaches and we are looking for daycare.  Sierra is still babbling away and has a good hearty laugh when you fan her face during a diaper change, or when the kiss monster (aka Maman) appears.  She is also starting to pull herself up whenever she can which is the precursor to madness, I’m sure.

Onto the photos!

Sierra sure loves her mom’s dog slipper.  Actually, she is quite intrigued in dogs.  We were over at Rob and Jan’s place the other day and she couldn’t really figure out what the heck the dog was.

Sometimes I only see these photos as I am posting them and have to come up with the story behind them.  This photo was taken before an epic snowball fight started between mother and daughter.  This was Vero’s starting shot.

Then Sierra retaliated.  Good shot!

No love lost after a snowball fight.

Two teeth!

Wow, I have no idea where this photo was taken!  This looks like a suspect high school locker room.  Sierra has some wild adventures during the day!  Actually, this is probably the locker room at the swimming pool.  Sierra supposedly quite enjoyed it!

Start them young.

I can’t actually tell if she likes this goop or not.

We went out to the Vars carnival which very cool.  There was a great spaghetti supper at the school and then we trekked over to the park for a bonfire and FREE beavertails!  Unheard of!  What a great community we live in.  There were a lot of kids running around having a good time.  It wasn’t too cold out either so we managed to stay for an hour before Sierra had to go home and be fed.

Baby strollers and bonfires.

Check out this Beavertail on a STICK!  This was a great idea.

Here is her favourite spot in the house under the coffee table.

Happy Valentine’s Day!

Vero begged me for a new background on her cellphone.  I put this on it.  Damn.  I look good.

Max dropped by with an 1/8 of a cow we had purchased.  Thanks dude!  Sierra and him played along quite well.  Too bad I don’t have a good photo of the two of them.  Maybe Mike does?

Model fathers.

I love how I just noticed that Sierra is pushing the doll around the house!  Driving Miss Daisy!

We figured we had another 15 years until she started driving.

Sierra got her very own transmogrifier!!!

Oh, Calvin and Hobbes, how I love thee.

Wow, we have officially hit the brick wall in taking photos of Sierra.  I just checked Google Photos and there are just two pictures taken in the past month by me.  Perhaps Vero has some on her camera that I will have to nab.

Well, without much to show you, here’s an animation of Sierra crawling.  I am really enjoying how Sierra is a machine that motors around the house on all fours.  I believe this is much more fun than say…when she figures out how to walk and then that will just lead to bloody noses and head bumps!

In the morning when I get up with her (which is the weekend), I get her out of her crib and put her on the floor and then walk out to the kitchen to get a bottle ready for her.  It’s up to her to follow me and she’s usually pretty good at motoring down the hallway to find me.  At this point, she doesn’t exactly come to me if I call to her…but if I ignore her for a bit, she decides it’s time to come closer to me.

She is also tugging on our pant legs whenever she is near and she is trying her best to stand herself up with the help of objects like the coffee table.  The development of a kid is fascinating as you can see them working it all out in their brain and I know one day it will just click for her.

Until then, I will enjoy the sound of two hands and two knees slap slap slapping the floor, motoring down the hallway.  She’s especially a fan of the bathroom so whenever she senses that the door is left open, she hightails it to that room!  It’s hilarious.

7am on Sunday has officially become more fun.

Sierra will hit the eight month mark in a few days so it’s a good time to reflect on how she has changed in the past month.

The most important things that have happened in the past month are something called two bottom teeth and the ability to crawl!

In fact, on January 23rd, Sierra managed to finally figure it out.  I would say it was about three weeks of tough mapping of new neural pathways in order to get to this point.  At the beginning of the month, she was pretty good at sitting up herself and scooting around in reverse.  But moving forward was an enigma.  I always assumed it was because the floor was too slippery with her PJs so I bought some foam pads.  Then I took her PJs off to see if she would get more of a grip on her knees.  Nothing was a knock out of the park, but it was close.  You could see her figure it out.

Then Vero said that as soon as I walked in the door, she was crawling!  It was quite amazing to see her figure it out.  I don’t even think she knows what’s going on with this newfound mobility.  She has taken a small step into a larger world.

Anyhow, onto the pictures because we all know that’s what you are here for.

On New Year’s Day, we headed over to Melissa and Jeff’s to show off Sierra.  That’s not true, we went to see Felix!

Sierra started crying when she first saw Jeff which was very abnormal for her.  I think it’s the glasses.  But she got over it pretty quickly.

Clearly Sierra loves Tante Carole and Oncle Michel!

Sierra loves playing with the strings on my sweatshirts.  She has a tendency of yanking them out completely when I’m not paying attention!

Sierra likes reading and when I say reading, I mean eating the books.

She hasn’t met a food she doesn’t like.

Happy Birthday Danielle!  Here is Sierra in the jolly jumper after we moved it outside the pantry.  She loves it!

We tried out the Instant Pot for the first time to make some pulled pork.  I would say that other than the sauce not being thick enough, it was a great success!  Too bad I bought pork shoulder the week after for when we had guests over.  It was hell to pull it apart and it was quite fatty.  Stick with the pork roast.

Sierra’s first taste of an apple.

Sierra had a friend over for some play time.  She is a girl who lives a few doors down.  Imagine if this will be the first picture of lifelong friends (or enemies, dunn dunn dunnnnnnn).

I came home and Sierra yanked the hat off my head!

Sierra trying to figure out crawling. 

My friend Etienne trying to hide in the woods on a beautiful day in Ottawa.  It’s great to walk down near the Ottawa river at lunch.

We tried out my new snowshoes on a beautiful day of -5 degrees.  We checked out the Vars cemetery trail and surprisingly ran into another couple out there.  That’s a first!

Winter is fun!

Maelle dropped by to see Sierra and when I say see Sierra, I really mean she wanted to play Barbies with me downstairs.

Uh oh.  This was how Vero found Sierra after a nap.  Time to lower that mattress in the crib if she can sit herself up!

Vero and Sierra went to the movie theater one day for the ‘Stars and Strollers’ day.  Vero told me that the cinema has change tables and stuff set up for parents with babies to go watch a movie together.  They had a great time and Sierra was blown away by the large screen!

We started preparing for the renovation on the basement bathroom.  We are hoping to eventually have a new shower, new wainscotting, new ceiling, new paint and hopefully a natural gas connection for a dryer.  We’ll see if we can get all that done while my parents visit in March.

Vero always knows how to get Sierra laughing.

Abigail taught Sierra this trick over the Christmas break!

For Christmas, Etienne, Benoit and I decided to put a little spin on a gift exchange and we decided to exchange vinyl records.  While I collect some vinyl records, I have to say I am not in the same league as Etienne or Benoit.

We met at Le Troquet last night for the exchange.  Unfortunately for me, I ended up buying Benoit a Barbarella soundtrack which he had picked up two weeks ago, but no matter, I would like it for my collection so I ended up with my own copy!

Etienne ended up picking me up this album from Plants and Animals.  I love listening to bands that are new to me and upon first spin, it was a pretty good listen.

Benoit ended up picking me up the latest Lisa Leblanc album.  It is primarily (all?) English songs compared to her usual french albums.  I am excited to give this a spin as I had caught her playing a fierce version of Motorhead’s Ace of Spades at Folk Festival a few years back.

Etienne surprised Benoit and I with our very own copy of the Reverb Syndicate’s Odyssey album.  Our friend Mike plays in this fine, fine group of musicians and I have to say, this is my favourite album of theirs.

All in all, I would have to say that the vinyl exchange was a great success and a fun after work event with Etienne and Benoit.